The UN Security Council currently has 15 member states. Five of them - Russia, US, China, UK and France - are permanent members with powers to veto any council decision.

"Ideas that infringe on exclusive rights of permanent council members, such as the historically formed veto right, are inadmissible for us. It should be kept in mind that this mechanism is an important instrument that encourages Security Council members to search for balanced solutions,” the Russian envoy said during General Assembly debates on a Security Council reform.

“The issue of Security Council reform cannot be solved arithmetically, by taking this or that reform model to a vote to receive the required two thirds of from the General Assembly members,” he went on.

“The decision reached in that manner would hardly add any weight to the Secuirty Council and is unlikely to strengthen the UN. We also doubt the practice of emerging isolated groups of states, who by all means try to expand the support base for their initiatives or, which is even worse, to artificially expedite their implementation,” Churkin said.

He also said that the reform model should win support from as many member states as possible.

“Even if we fail to reach a consensus on this issue, anyway it is politically necessary to win the support of more states than the two-thirds majority of the General Assembly members, required by the rules of procedure,” the Russian envoy said.

Churkin said that a model of up to 20 member states would be optimal for the Security Council.

Speaking about transparency in the Council’s work, namely closed sessions to hear reports from conflict zones, the Russian diplomat called for “a sensible balance between transparency and efficiency.”